MicroRNA-146a deficiency enhances host protection against murine cytomegalovirus.

Natural killer (NK) cells are innate lymphoid cells that protect a host from viral infections and malignancies. MicroRNA-146a (miR-146a) is an important regulator of immune function that is highly expressed in NK cells and is further upregulated during murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) infection. Here we utilized mice with a global targeted deletion of miR-146a to understand its impact on the innate immune responses to MCMV infection.

Re-visiting the embryogenesis of the human lower lip: an overlooked paradigm.

The rare opportunity to study a human fetus showing bilateral clefting of the lower lip along with other associated anomalies resembling those of the equally rare Pena-Shokeir phenotype prompts this report. The scarcity of reports on bilateral clefts of the lower lip has strengthened the conventional understanding or, perhaps even dogma that the lower lip and jaw develop from the progressive midline merging of just two mandibular prominences in the embryo. On the basis of observations stemming from this case report, it is proposed that yet another developmental event or process (in addition to the midline merging of the mandibular prominences) may be operable in the normal morphogenesis of the lower lip and anterior mandibular region.

Patterns of body and visceral growth in human prenates with clefts of the lip and palate.

Objective: To address the hypothesis that human prenates with birth defects such as clefts of the lip and palate show growth patterns in which body size and visceral growth are aberrant for prenatal age.

Methods: Body size and organ weight measurements were derived from a cross-sectional population sample of 167 legally donated human embryos that were representative of key periods in visceral organogenesis and growth. Measurements included those of overall body size (i.

Postnatal presence of paraseptal cartilages in humans: a description of morphology and size.

Paraseptal cartilages (PCs) have been the subject of controversy, in that some authors believe them to be absent or rarely present, while others have described them to exist at predictable locations in adult human tissue specimens. This study seeks to determine the presence or absence of PCs in humans and describe their morphology and size. Nasal septal tissue from 19 adults and 1 child were paraffin embedded, coronally sectioned, placed on slides, and stained for microscopic observation.

Searching for the vomeronasal organ of adult humans: preliminary findings on location, structure, and size.

The adult human vomeronasal organ (VNO) has been the focus of numerous recent investigations, yet its developmental continuity from the human fetal VNO is poorly understood. The present study compared new data on the adult human "VNO" with previous findings on the fetal human VNO. Nasal septa were removed from twelve adult human cadavers and each specimen was histologically sectioned.